Aurora (2011)

Touches You

Overrated and overhyped

A Brilliant Conflict

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

http://slnks.com/0xzpreview: But seriously, 'Aurora' has been the first movie I watched this year, a story set in gloomy, contemporary Bucharest – a slice of life, if you may call it that way – where a divorced man follows his ex-wife through town with the not - so - obvious intention of killing her. The movie is long – three hours long – and as some interesting critics who haven't even had the decency to watch an entire movie before reviewing it say – pretty boring. But instead of boring I would like to call it slow paced, aerated, leaving just enough room for the characters to develop and for the viewer to get accustomed to their lifestyle. I think it was actually polite – yes, I'll use this word – that the director took the time he thought he needed in describing the characters (mostly the main character, played by the director himself) and the situations created by the relationships the characters are in.

It's plain crap, but it's long (3 hours!). The emperor has no clothes on, folks! Never mind the pretentious 'artsy' and dark filming, the awkward and long shots, the unexplained, unmotivated and undeveloped characters, and the other (very good) film by Mr. Puiu ('The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu'). This one is just a nightmarish vision of a dull life with apparently no events and no insight. At times it seems almost fantastic, and maybe that would have saved a bit this story if it explored the fantastic vein more. But no, it's just a mundane and boring hell, the fashionable (and limited) way of the intelligentsia to look at today's Romania (you know it even from the news: garbage, stray dogs, sloppy people). If Travis Bickle really had no life and if Mr. Scorsese had no brain, the result would be 'Aurora'. What a waste...

Heavy movie, especially watching it now, after the Norwegian massacre.. But definitely worth seeing, makes you think about all those annoying people in your life that you wished you'd never come across (or dead). His character goes a bit further than that.. actually takes the gun and shoots them. And somehow you empathise with him, you find those people around him terribly vulgar and intrusive, shameless. It's strange how lonely the character is in his sense of respect and dignity ("bun simt" in Romanian) - but to anyone who has been in an absurd Romanian situation - police, administration, school, hospital - knows how lonely you can feel when nobody else except you realises or cares about how ridiculous that situation is.. Chapeau bas for Puiu stepping in those shoes and playing the main part. I would have given him a 10 - definitely for the script and acting - but found the camera work a little disappointing, a lot of shaking and bad shots. Also found the naked shower scene completely unnecessary.

Are you fascinated by static shots of the ceiling? Do scenes in which potato peeling is the primary activity or scenes in which men discuss the cost of household repairs float your boat? If so, you will be in ecstasy over Cristi Puiu's new film, Aurora (or I as prefer to think of it, Andy Warhol's Aurora), a three-hour meditation on the life of an affectless, gun-toting loser (portrayed by the director) meandering through the streets of Bucharest.Even for those who admired Puiu's Death of Mr. Lazarescu (and I count myself among them), Aurora will be a challenge: clocking it at almost three hours, the film eschews plot development in favor of plod development. As Puiu plods from one point to another in the Romanian capital, however, you'll probably be plotting an early escape route.